CULLOWHEE, N.C. – The Samford University volleyball team exited the Southern Conference Volleyball Championships after dropping a tough 3-2 decision at the hands of ETSU on Saturday, Nov. 21, inside the Ramsey Center.

Junior Erin Bognar left it all out on the court as she led the Bulldogs (15-12) with career-highs in kills (28) and digs (26). In any other match the production from the St. Louis, Missouri native would have been enough to advance Samford to the semifinal round but the success was balanced out by the miscues both unforced and forced by the Buccaneers (19-11).

"Give credit to ETSU, they served the ball aggressively and serve received very well." Head Coach Derek Schroeder said. "They were very well prepared and played a great match; I feel after the first set we were just trying to hang on and not playing system volleyball."

The Bulldogs committed 30 attack errors, which 11 resulted in an ETSU blocks, to go alongside 11 service errors and six reception errors.

The entire match consisted of 34 ties and 17 lead changes with 20 ties coming in the final two sets of the match. The Buccaneers commanded the one set that featured only a single tie thanks to a hot start out of the intermission where the team hit .531 and recorded a .730 sideout percentage to go up 2-1 in the match.

The Bulldogs responded in the fourth set to edge out the Buccaneers late after the squad fended off a 24-23 match-point with a kill from Bognar. Bognar sent the match to a fifth set with an ace deep in the seam to give Samford the 27-25 edge and 2-2 tie in the match.

In the fifth set Samford produced 10 kills to ETSU's eight but the Buccaneers kept the set close with their highest sideout percentage of the match (.760). The Bulldogs fended off yet another match-point with a kill from freshman Krista Boesing to close the gap to 14-13 but a quick timeout by the Buccaneers spelled the momentum from Samford.

Rylee Milhorn pushed ETSU to victory with her 17^th kill of the match. Milhorn also recorded 23 digs in the match.

Boesing ended the match with a career-high 18 kills (.333) and four digs while freshman setter Taylor Anderton notched a career-high 62 assists. The Bulldogs managed eight blocks in the match which was also led by Bognar's individual effort of five total that included four solo blocks.

Brianna Allmon paced the ETSU offense with 23 kills while Hailey Aguilar notched 28 digs.

Today's result marks the first time since 2010 the Bulldogs have exited the SoCon Volleyball Championships in the quarterfinal round.

"We believe that culture wins championships and our practice culture was not up to the standard of Samford volleyball." Schroeder said. "This is something we will take ownership of in the off-season and we'll work to build back up to that standard of championship volleyball."

The Bulldogs concluded the season with their 5^th consecutive season where the program reach 10 Southern Conference victories in regular season play and 5^th consecutive season with a win percentage above .500.